The Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn AHEAD) recently released a new research brief that examines the usability and usefulness of university Net Price Calculators (NPCs).
The brief offers recommendations for colleges and universities that will help ensure prospective students have accurate and transparent information on college costs.
Continue reading Report: Improve Net Price Calculators for Student Success
Undocumented status can add an additional challenge into the already complex college application process.
“For undocumented students, there are so many barriers to pursuing higher education: an unstable political climate, a lack of clarity around university policies, the cost of attendance and less access to financial aid, and concerns about travel and safety, to name a few,” said Jessica Ch’ng, senior assistant director, multicultural recruitment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
To work toward breaking down these barriers, Ch’ng used a NACAC Imagine Fund grant.
Continue reading Imagine Grant Supports Programming for Undocumented Students
We’ll be broadcasting via Facebook Live on Tuesday, July 9 with Brian Coleman, this year’s Guiding the Way to Inclusion keynote speaker.
An eloquent and enthusiastic advocate for college counseling, Coleman is a school counselor and counseling department chair at Jones College Prep in Chicago, IL. He was named the 2019 School Counselor of the Year and was also this year’s recipient of the Upstander Award from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Continue reading Facebook Live: Meet Brian Coleman, GWI’s Keynote Speaker
Financial aid offers play a big role in the college decision for admitted students.
But these offers are often confusing and award letters vary wildly, leaving students to make one of their first major life decisions without access to clear information.
“I think anyone who’s worked with students is just like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. What a mess,’ ” Rachel Fishman, a researcher with New America, told NPR. “It’s really the Wild West when it comes to how these letters look.”
Continue reading Study: Financial Aid Award Letters Need More Clarity, Transparency
Getting to and through college is an amazing feat for first-generation students. But, the challenges this student population faces do not stop post-graduation.
From parental connections to internships to the ability to buy a suit for interviews, the road from first-generation student to first-generation professional is a bumpy one.
Continue reading First-Generation Students Continue to Face Barriers Post-Graduation
We’ll be broadcasting via Facebook Live on Tuesday, June 25 with Nasim Mohammadzadeh, a rising senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, KY.
Mohammadzadeh is one of the winners of NACAC’s 2019 Video Essay Contest, sponsored by ZeeMee.
Continue reading Facebook Live Q&A with NACAC Scholarship Winner
Colleges and universities are making strides in gender inclusivity, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Ten years ago, the University of Vermont became the first school in the US to allow students to self-identify their pronouns and to include it in their student data.
Now, according to the Campus Pride Trans Policy Clearinghouse, 255 colleges enable students to use a chosen first name, instead of their legal name, on campus records and documents; 60 colleges enable students to change the gender on their campus records without evidence of medical intervention; and 19 colleges enable students to indicate the pronouns they use for themselves on course rosters.
Continue reading Gender Inclusivity Slowly Improving on Campuses
School counselors face large caseloads and an ever-growing list of demands as they work to serve the social, emotional, and academic needs of their students. But could a small part of this workload be shared by counseling graduate students?
This is the idea behind Postsecondary Readiness Night, a program that pairs the school counseling program at the University of Scranton (PA) with local school districts in Pennsylvania.
The most recent event, funded by a NACAC Imagine Fund grant, was geared toward high school juniors, seniors, and their parents and offered stations focused on topics such as financial aid and college visits.
As costs continue to rise, planning how to finance a four-year degree has become an essential part of the college application process.
A new resource from NACAC aims to clear up the confusion around college affordability and spark necessary conversations.
DC public schools (DCPS) are hoping to get and keep high school students on track to graduate and head off to college with their new “Guide to Graduation, College, and Career.”
Personalized for each student, all high school students in DCPS will receive a PDF document twice a year that will track their progress to graduation and offer college and career options, NPR reported. The guides will be mailed and available online.
Continue reading School Districts to Offer ‘Graduation Guides’ to Keep Students on Track
